Modern word processing programs and other like applications frequently include features for checking the spelling and grammar of text set forth within internal works, which may include documents or texts of any kind. At a basic level, software applications for checking the spelling of words within a body of text, sometimes called “spell checkers” or “spell checks,” typically operate by comparing a word typed by a user against a set of correctly spelled words, such as an online dictionary. If a typed word does not correspond to any of the words in the set, the typed word may be underlined, highlighted or otherwise identified to the user as misspelled and, in some instances, an alternate spelling for the typed word may be suggested. Likewise, software applications for checking the appropriateness of grammar within a body of text, or “grammar checkers,” typically operate by evaluating punctuation, diction, styles and other features of words, phrases and sentences within the body of text, identifying potentially erroneous uses of grammar or syntax, and suggesting alternate word choices or phrase and sentence structures to the author.
While spell checkers and grammar checkers are helpful for verifying the typographical or grammatical correctness of a body of text within a document, such as by comparing a word or group of words against a set of rules or guidance established by or within an external source, such checkers and other like applications are powerless where an error in a body of text is based not on specific errors in spelling or prose, but on inconsistencies between statements of fact made in different portions of the body of text. For example, where a first fact is established in an early portion of a document (such as a short story, a movie script or a news article), and a second fact that contradicts the first fact is established in a later portion of the document, existing systems and methods for checking the text of the document, such as spell checkers or grammar checkers, are generally unable to identify the contradiction. If the words used by the author of the document to establish the first fact and the second fact are correctly spelled, and proper grammar is employed, the contradiction will go entirely unnoticed.
It is believed that existing systems and methods for preparing, evaluating and/or publishing an internal work are unable to check the contents of the document to identify facts that are established therein, to identify any discrepancies between two or more of the established facts within the internal work, or to suggest any alterations or modifications to one or more portions of the internal work in order to address any such discrepancies.
The systems and methods of the present disclosure are intended to address one or more of the foregoing deficiencies and limitations, and others that may be expressly or implicitly present in the prior art.